At first, it will be wise to learn how to set the wheel in motion. Suppose we practice this a few times before beginning to mould. When one is seated on the inclined bench, the left foot on the rest, the right foot starting just below the body, near the outer edge of the wheel, swings the flywheel from right to left. The point of the foot is used for this. Four or five vigorous turns are given, and then the foot, swinging nearer the iron shaft, gives five or six more pushes to the flywheel, and is placed on the foot-rest. Expert potters can turn with the foot while the hands are busy moulding, but we who are beginners will do wisely to start the wheel revolving, then, keeping both feet on the rest, give all our attention to the hand-work, until the slower revolutions warn us that it is time to give the wheel another start. One caution should be given, and it may not be out of place here: Do not work too long a time at the wheel. Half or three-quarters of an hour’s steady work at a time will be enough. After that, leave it for half an hour and you will not get physically or nervously tired; besides, the work will go much better. Have your tools and a bowl of thin slip within easy reach as you sit at the wheel.
In beginning your piece, a lump of clay, say about two pounds, well worked, is made into a ball. Wet the top of the wheel, then rub it off so as to leave the wheel just moist enough for the clay to stick, but not slippery, so that it will slide. The lump of clay, held in both hands, is then thrown firmly on to the centre of the wheel. The bottom of the lump should be well down on the wheel, and it is most important to have it exactly in the centre. The hands are wet with slip, which is also rubbed over the lump of clay with both hands so that it is thoroughly moist.
The wheel is now set in motion as already described, and when it is well started, and both feet are up on the rest, the hands held one on either side of the clay starting close to the wheel, move slowly up the sides of the lump, drawing it up into a cone shape. The elbows should be well braced against the sides of the body, so as to hold the hands absolutely steady, for they should never waver or swing with the wheel, but hold true and firm. If the mass is not exactly in the centre of the wheel, or the cone shape is not even, the hands are again wet with slip, a few drops of which are shaken on to the clay. The thumbs are laid together, and the hands at the bases of the thumbs are pressed firmly down on the clay (as the wheel turns), pressing it again into mound shape. The hands and clay are wet once more, and the wheel started. The clay is now pressed up again into the cone form, taking great care to have the pressure even and slow. The hands should move, after each revolution, not more than a quarter of an inch. When a good cone shape is made exactly in the middle of the wheel, the piece is “centred.” In order to prove that the cone is absolutely in the centre, set the wheel going, brace the arms against the body, and, steadying the right hand with the left, move the forefinger of the right closer and closer to the cone, until it all but touches it. If the figure hits in any one place, that will prove that the cone is not centred, and it must be pressed again into mound shape as already described, but if it just clears it all the way round, the potter proceeds to the next step.
The thumbs, held close together above the clay, are aimed at the exact centre of it, and their ends pressed firmly but lightly in, while the wheel revolves once or twice. This is to mark the centre. The next step is to hollow out the piece. This is also done with the thumbs. The hands and clay being wet with slip, and the wheel started well, the fingers inclose the outer walls of the piece, while the thumbs are pressed into the centre of the clay firmly and decidedly down to within less than half an inch from the bottom. This is something that the potter learns to know almost by instinct—how close he can come to the top of the wheel and yet leave a bottom thick enough to trim and finish.
